A place to find the most amazing Latin American folk tales

MEXICO

Once upon a time there was a very rich Spanish man named Antonio who lived in a small town south of Michoacan, State of Mexico. He had great riches but his greatest treasure was his teenage daughter Mariana who was so beautiful some believed she was an angel on earth.

Mariana fell in love with a handsome Indian boy from the village. He was very brave and had true feelings for the beautiful girl. Unfortunately for the young couple, Don Antonio would not allow her to marry anyone. He was very selfish and excessively jealous so to avoid ever losing his greatest treasure on May 2nd he hiked the devils hill where it was well known men with horrible wishes went to make even more horrible deals with the devil. Antonio didn’t find the devil so when he reach the top of the hill he cried “I would rather Mariana and everyone around me die than to see her being taken by another man!”

The next day during the Celebration of the Holy Cross, Mariana’s boyfriend gave her a small cross made of gold that belonged to his ancestors as a symbol of the union of a heroic race with another of talent and nobility. At that exact moment the earth began to tremble and there was a terrible cataclysm. An atmosphere of fire and earth invaded the village killing many people and Mariana, her Indian boyfriend and her father where never found under the mud.

The few that managed to escape believe the devil fulfilled the jealous father’s request. They transmitted the story from generation to generation. Today you can see the remains of that terrible event at the San Antonio hill, also known as Mariana. People gave the mountain the name of the beautiful girl since it seems that it is she who is laying there, waiting for her beloved boyfriend for all eternity.

Every year on May 3rd during the celebration of the cross many assure to have seen a beautiful young girl singing a sad song and kissing a small gold cross hanging from her chest. They claim to have seen her walking towards the hill and disappearing suddenly.

Hapunda was a beautiful princess that lived on the Yunuen Island on the Patzcuaro Lake. She was not only gorgeous but also very kind and the most beloved person in the entire island.

Stories about her exceptional beauty and kindness started to spread around the surrounding villages and finally got to the ears of some Chichimecas warriors. This unwanted characters decided to kidnap the princess and take her to their king as a gift hoping for glory and gold in return. The princess’ brothers offered to defend her but she knew that the enemy army was much bigger and powerful and her brothers would probably not succeed and die defending her.

She was not going to surrender easily either so she decides to escape in the middle of the night. She run to the Patzcuaro Lake who she believed was her one true love and poured her dramatic story into his waters. The lake felt her sorrow and despair and asked her to dive into his waters so they can be united forever and so she did. After going into the deepest end of the lake she emerged, reborn into a mighty white heron and forever stayed around her beloved Patzcuaro flying and feeding from it for all eternity.

Twenty kilometers away from the city of Patzcuaro, center of Michoacan State, Mexico, we can find the city of Zirahuen. This is a city mainly known for their wonderful artisans and rich gastronomy. It’s beautiful lake located right in the heart of the city makes this an amazing touristic destination and a quiet and relaxing place to spend your holidays.

“Zirahuen” means “mirror of the gods” which pretty much explains the following legend.

The origins of Lake Zirahuen

Legend says that after the fall of Tecnochtitlan city, among the newly come Spaniards there was a not so handsome captain who fell in love with princess Erendira, daughter of king Tangaxoan. He wanted to have her for himself so he kidnapped the princess and hid her in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains.

Princess Erendira cried day and night and prayed to her gods to save her and free her from her natural prison. The gods of day and night, Juriata and Jaratanga listened to her and decided to help her escape. They turned her into a beautiful mermaid and her tears were so powerful that a lake was form right in the middle of the valley and with the help of her fins she swam away and got her freedom back as she had prayed for.

Villagers say that the mermaid is still living under the deep end of the lake and sometimes around dawn she emerges in order to lure and punish men of evil hearts.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful bat. He was the most beautiful creature that ever existed, because in his quest to look like the rest of the birds, he rose to the sky and asked the creator to give him feathers.

The creator told him that if he really wanted feathers he could ask the other birds if they could provide him with some of theirs. And so he did. He worked day and night to collect those beautiful feathers. He asked the most amazing specimens for just one of their very pretty feathers.

When he was done he was very proud of his accomplishment. He looked spectacular and loved swaggering his new looks in front of every animal in the world. He was so beautiful that with the echo of his flight he made wonderful rainbows.

Every animal looked at him with admiration. They couldn’t stop watching fascinated by the dazzling image. However, the flattering started to take its toll on him and pride took over. He began to look down on every other bird since he considered they were not as marvelous as he was.

He started criticizing other birds and comparing himself to them. Always pointing out the fact that he was the most beautiful creature that ever existed.

Since no one likes to be humiliated and looked down to, the bat’s lack of humility became unbearable for the entire animal kingdom and those comments reached the ears of the creator. The creator decided to call the bat for a brief meeting.

The presumptuous animal thought he was being called to receive some sort of award or flattery for his beauty and his ego rose with him beyond the clouds. He was so happy he flapped again and again, shedding unconsciously all its beautiful feathers. Suddenly, he was naked, black and wrinkly as he was at the beginning of times.

Day after day the sky was filled with color and beautiful rainbow feathers were falling from the clouds as if it was some kind of paint filled rain.

The bat was so embarrassed, he went down to earth and took refuge inside caves refusing to see anyone. He lived in the dark, lamenting his selfish attitude and was never able to see color again.

Once upon a time the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl decided to explore the world. He turned himself into a mortal man and started his journey. He was amazed about how big and beautiful earth was. He was so excited that he forgot to feed and hydrate his mortal form. By the end of the trip he was exhausted and about to faint so he decided to rest on the side of the road.

Suddenly a small rabbit appeared and approached him.

“Are you ok?” The rabbit asked.

“No, I’m tired and hungry” The god replied.

Without knowing that he was talking to a deity the rabbit rapidly offered to share his food with Quetzalcoatl.

“Thank you, but I don’t eat plants” the god told the rabbit.

The small fury animal wanted to help the traveler so after further consideration he said:

“I have nothing else to offer, I am an insignificant creature and you need to recover your strength so please eat me and resume your travels.”

The god moved by the creatures’ noble gesture returned to his original godly form and held the rabbit so high that his shape was forever embedded into the moon.

He then gently put the rabbit back on the road and told him

“You might be a tiny creature but from this day on everyone in the world will remember you as the mighty rabbit in the moon”

Mexico is one of the most popular touristic destinations of the world and among their amazing geographic attractions are Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl, two of the highest volcanos in that side of the world.

This two have been the principal characters of many legends and many have tried to explain their origin being the most popular story the one that talks about two star-crossed lovers destined to be together for all eternity.

The legend of Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl.

Legend says that a long long time ago during the heyday of the Aztec Empire there was a young princess named Iztaccíhuatl, she was the most beautiful woman of the empire, all men loved her and women wanted to be like her. The princess was in love of a young warrior named Popocatepetl, he was brave and handsome and had eyes only for the princess. The both of them were very much in love and had promised to love each other for all eternity.

Princess Iztaccíhuatl was the daughter of the chief of the Tlaxcaltecas, sworn enemies of the Aztecs. Both cities had been fighting for a long time and young men where sent to war every day. Popocatepetl was soon to be send to fight so before leaving, he asked the chief to let him marry his daughter upon his return. The chief agreed as long as he returns victorious.

Popocatepetl promised the princess to come back so they could get married and live happily ever after but not long after his departure a vicious and jealous character by the name of Tlaxcala told the princess that her beloved warrior had died in battle. She was so depressed that she died… without even trying to find out if what this guy said was true.

The warrior was, of course, alive and when he returned and found out his beautiful princess had died of sorrow he was so upset that he wondered around the city for several days and nights until he realized he had to do something for the princess to never be forgotten. He had a big tomb built specially for her, putting several hills together in order to form a big mountain under the Mexican sun and took the princess’ body to the top of the mountain, kissed her and stood next to her, holding his torch and watching her sleep, for all eternity.

It is said that now, every time the young warrior remembers his princess, his heart shakes and his torch smokes and that is why the volcano sometimes shoots fumes.

Tlaxcala, the mean ugly man that lied to Iztaccíhuatl about her lover being dead eventually died of guilt and according to the legend he lays in a nearby mountain named “Pico de Orizaba” watching the two lovers together forever.